'I lost my childhood to Harry Potter': The actor who plays Draco Malfoy reveals his own chamber of secrets

Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint have been in tears, while Emma Watson has cut off all her hair and started dating rockers.

After nearly ten years, the Harry ­Potter bandwagon is about to end. And for the young stars who have spent half their lives filming the movie franchise, the wrench could not be greater.

But there are several things Tom Felton — aka Harry’s school nemesis Draco ­Malfoy — is looking forward to. And from the moment you see him, it is ­obvious why.

For the first time in a decade Tom has been allowed to get a tan. He looks ­amazingly healthy and even a little buff.

Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy: 'For the past decade we haven't had much freedom to do other projects'

His hair is also no longer shockingly white, but his natural dark-blonde. Or at least, what he thinks is his natural colour. His hair and eyebrows have been dyed so much over the years (at least once a week while he was on each Harry Potter set) he can no longer remember.

‘I think everyone is expecting the Harry Potter cast to break down as it comes to its end,’ says Tom. ‘I know Daniel and Rupert had a bit of a cry when it was their last day and the crew screened a showreel of the past ten years. But I feel a real ­mixture of emotions. There is a little bit of sadness, but at the same time there is excitement.

‘For the past decade we haven’t had much freedom to do other projects. I ­certainly haven’t had much freedom to keep my own hair colour, or lay in the sun, or do anything remotely dangerous like skiing. It was nice to go on holiday and not have to slap on the SPF50 and sit under an umbrella with three caps on.’

For all the fame and wealth that Harry Potter has brought its young stars, there have been plenty of downsides, too.

To keep Tom's hair white-blond, hairdressers on the set would dye it with a strong tint, initially three times, and then touch up the roots EVERY week

Tom, who is now 23 but talks like he is a decade older, and his co-stars have been working since they were young children. And while he insists he has no regrets about being in the movies, he admits that it meant he had to grow up fast.

‘One thing that people keep on saying to me is that the wealth and
the fame must have made up for missing out on my childhood,’ he says.
‘But the idea of money — putting a price on your childhood — is
ridiculous. You will never get those years back and you can’t put a
price on them.

‘And to me, fame is not a positive thing. The idea of being famous is
a lot better than the reality. It’s fantastic when you go to premieres
and people cheer you, but it’s not real. And it’s totally not my
approach to get my name on a club door just because I can.’

Tom is said to have earned around £3 million for his role as a baddie
in the films. But he admits even the pay cheques turned out to be, at
one point, a poisoned chalice.

The youngest of four brothers brought up in a comfortable
middle-class home in Epsom, Surrey, he admits that no one in the family
knew what to do with all the money he was making.

His estate agent mother, who was also working as his chaperone and
manager, invested some of it in property but told him the rest was his
to do with what he wanted.

‘I bought a lot of rubbish things that kids buy: skateboards and
clothes and typical teenage stuff,’ he says. ‘And, as soon as I could, I
wasted a lot of money on cars — BMWs mostly — for myself and my family.

Bronze medal: A newly tanned Tom, having lost Draco's bleached mane

‘My mum told me: “You have worked hard for it so get what you want, but beware, you will lose money on cars.” And she was right.’

The reality check came via the taxman.

‘My parents did what they could, but when money is thrust upon you so are a load of other things: tax, VAT, mortgages — things a 16-year-old really doesn’t know ­anything about. I got myself into a bit of trouble.

‘There was a scary two years where it was madness because I was really in trouble with the taxman. I had been working for eight years and all I had to show for it was this horrible debt. At one point we had the bailiff at the door.

'I was so naïve I didn’t even know what he was there for. He pointed at my car and said: “This yours?” and I said: “Oh, yes, I bought it two weeks ago and it’s all paid off.” He said: “Brilliant, we’ll take it. Give us the key.”

‘I managed to get out of that ­situation but it was a scary time, the result of too long burying my head in the sand.

‘I’ve spent the past year and a half with an accountant, trying to understand VAT, DVD residuals and things like that. I’ve had to really grow up.

A promising singer-songwriter, Tom recently set up a record label with friends to help struggling singers, and his own material can be found on the internet

‘Meanwhile, all my friends were coming out of university and were b***ering off to Thailand for six months and getting cars paid for by their ­parents. I, meanwhile, had to find all this money for mortgages and x, y and z, and it felt like it was the wrong way round; I should have been the one on holiday!’

While he enjoyed a short break when Harry Potter finished filming in September, there may not be ­any holidays for some time. Harry Potter will still be part of Tom’s life until next summer at least, as JK Rowling’s seventh and final book has been split into two separate films. The first is due out on November 19 and the second next summer.

Tom has already won several parts in other films (he is currently ­starring in a movie about golf and recently worked on a new Planet Of The Apes film), but feels he has to work harder than ever as he almost has to start again in his career.

‘It’s a nervous time after having such a sure thing for ten years,’ he says. ‘Suddenly you are on your own and there is no guarantee of future work. I’ve got bills to pay and I’ve got to work.

‘My last audition was when I was 12, but now I have to put myself out there again and it’s not easy. I went to LA for two weeks to see what it was like, and after my first audition I came out and nearly fainted. My legs were shaking and I needed to neck three glasses of water.

‘It was the worst experience of my life. There were 13 people there — producers, director, casting director, and so on — and it seemed like they were all on their BlackBerries. It’s a hard place; they are very happy for you to walk in, see you are not right for the job and say: “Thanks very much, see you later.” ’

You could forget just how big the ­franchise is until he laughingly describes how he has a mountain of silver spoons sent for luck by fans in Japan, or the way one American man changed his name to Lucius Malfoy and begged Tom to agree to be his adopted son. He also gets sackloads of mail ­saying, ‘Leave Harry alone’.

Tom is unfailingly polite, even ­helping out the room service lady who arrives to bring him coffee at the London hotel where we meet.

Evil: Harry's nemesis Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) moves even closer to the dark side in the sixth film of the series

Everyone wonders why none of the Potter cast made an even vague nod towards going off the rails ­having had immense fame and wealth thrust upon them at such a young age. Tom credits the very special working relationship with the Potter crew which keeps all the cast, even the Sirs and Dames who play the adults, on their feet.

‘We all feel pretty normal because most of us pretty much are, other than having to do this job and speak to the Press and promote films,’ he says. ‘If you have enough smoke going up your backside, eventually you will start to breathe it. But none of us put ourselves around people who are going to blow smoke.

‘The crew especially are the first people to whip us into shape and tell us that we are no one special. The banter is thick on Harry Potter and that has been crucial in keeping us down-to-earth.

‘If someone tried to take the hierarchy thing too seriously — for example, being lovely to producers but moaning to runners about the tea — that would not be accepted on Harry Potter; someone would pull you aside and have a word.’

Despite the cream of British ­talent working on the films, he says none of them pull rank. ‘We have been taught by the best in the business. Not only about acting but how to act with the crew.

Tom's girlfriend Jade Olivia plays his wife in one of the final scenes of the films (they met on set, where she was a stunt co-ordinator's assistant, three years ago)

'As soon as you see “Dame” in front of someone’s name you get nervous, but Dame Maggie Smith is the most wonderfully gentle woman I have ever met. She never had a bad word to say.’

The list goes on: Helena Bonham Carter is lovely; even Ralph Fiennes — as scary as he is, dressed as ­Voldemort — is so sweet.

‘I remember my first scene with Alan Rickman and I was anxious because he is a slight “method” actor; as soon as he is in his cloak, he walks and talks like Snape — it is quite terrifying. But I really wanted to talk to him because Robin Hood was one of my favourite films.

‘After I plucked up the courage, we chatted for about half an hour, and he told me where he got his inspiration from and how he thinks of approaching his lines. It is fascinating for a young actor to be able to talk to your heroes like that. It is priceless.’

Tom adds that the short gaps of real life which intruded on the nine months-a-year filming ­schedules also meant that he was quickly brought down to earth. He attended his local comprehensive where the Hogwarts bully was bullied himself by older kids, ­determined to put the young actor in his place.

‘I would miss months of school and then return with bright blond hair,’ recalls Tom. ‘Needless to say, there was bullying. I wasn’t beaten up daily, but there was name-calling and jealousy.

‘You have to bear in mind that Harry Potter wasn’t cool. I wasn’t part of the Terminator franchise. But in some ways I am grateful because I would rather that than be sheltered my whole life and not ­realise people like that were out there. I feel like I have the last laugh.’

Although he has a group of five core friends from school (‘They don’t talk about my job and I don’t talk about theirs’), he remains incredibly close to his on-screen rival Daniel Radcliffe. Having originally read for the role of Harry Potter himself, Tom ­eulogises about the fact that he could not have lost the role to ­anyone better.

‘He is an endless inspiration to me,’ he says of his friend. ‘Professionally, he is a phenomenal actor and he doesn’t take anything as a given. In between films he is doing ­acting classes, anything he can to improve himself.

‘He is exceptionally polite, terrifically good with names and he hates people who are rude.

‘But more than anything else he is exceptionally passionate. I can be on set for two weeks and be bored of going over the same scenes. He will have been there nearly two months solid and still be over the moon about filming the next day.

‘He is so passionate about the film and the franchise that he will be on set even on the days he is not needed.

‘People think there must be jealousy but there honestly isn’t, because no one could touch the part that he plays; not just for the acting but all the other stuff he has to deal with. He has been working almost solidly for ten years but it is his passion and he absolutely loves it.’

And while Tom is also close to Rupert Grint, he admits he is a totally different character.

‘Rupert is the most laid-back person you’ve ever met,’ he says. ‘He is not bothered by anything. You might tell him that his scene has been pushed back for three hours and he’ll be fine and mutter: “I’ll just play ping pong for a few more hours.”

‘He’s unfazed by the fans and the fuss but he remains a ferociously talented actor. He has expert timing and delivery with no effort whatsoever.’

I detect just the slightest hint of frost when he talks about Emma — although he would be far to polite to ever criticise her.

‘I haven’t seen so much of her,’ he says lightly. ‘She is very professional and seems like an intelligent lady.’

But when he talks of his own plans one day — when the madness has died down — to attend an American university for a year, he does not want to follow the route taken by Emma, who attends Brown University in Rhode Island and dates rockers.

‘I would not want there to be a big hoo-ha about what I am doing. I would want to do it really quietly.’

Indeed, he admits that anything too showbizzy mortifies him. Earlier this year he won an MTV movie award for best screen baddie and he admits that he struggled to accept the honour.

‘That night was terrifying,’ he says. ‘I didn’t enjoy one minute of it. ­Winning was the biggest surprise of all, and although it was a huge h­onour, my initial thought was one of terror that I would have to make an acceptance speech.

‘I don’t buy into the razzmatazz. There was a party afterwards and I went for about 15 minutes before I went back to our hotel for a cup of tea and a chocolate digestive.’

n Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part One is released in cinemas on November 19.